Just over a week ago, researchers released the first in silico model of a living organism, the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium. This is the first time an entire organism’s metabolic processes have been integrated and modeled and it offers an unprecedented opportunity to do in silico experiments on the organism. Remarkably, the production of this model...
Abundance co-author Steven Kotler recently wrote in the Forbes Blog about a significant upshift in DNA synthesis technology. It’s called DNA Laser Printing. Created by a Bay Area startup called Cambrian Genomics, the technique solves a thorny problem with chemistry-based DNA synthesis: make a long enough oligonucleotide and it will contain errors. This happens...
In December 2010, the Obama administration published New Directions: The Ethics of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Technologies, a report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Within the document were recommendations aimed to minimize risks from the technology while ensuring that social and economic benefits are realized. It suggested revisiting the topic...
In 1990, scientists launched one of the largest international collaborations in life science, an effort to sequence the human genome. This work inspired a new generation of genetic researchers and led to countless breakthroughs in new technologies, informatics, and medicine. I was one of the researchers who had their careers launched by this effort. Now,...
Last week, at the Singularity University Hollywood Executive Program held at Fox Studios, I had the privilege of sharing some of my thoughts about synthetic biology to an all-star crowd. I was the bridge between a fanciful Ray Kurzweil, who shared his thoughts on the technological singularity, and the matter-of-fact Craig Venter, who discussed the...
My friend David Ewing Duncan recently published an fascinating piece in the Atlantic.com online site examining what’s ahead in medical technologies. What’s clear is that medtech and biotech are moving beyond the traditional boundaries of dire medical need and into the realm of human enhancement. There’s a fine line between exoskeletons to help a paralyzed...
BGI claims to have more DNA sequencing capacity than the entire US. Science magazine had a fascinating profile on the rise of BGI to this prominent position in high throughput science. A must read for bio-geeks.
As springtime approaches, so do the home repairs – painting the trim or deck, replacing the rotted boards, getting the lawnmower blade sharpened. But what if our buildings were more like life? What if they grew from a seed? Or were heated with solar energy or sugars or oils they manufactured themselves? What if they...
How quickly things change in the genomic world! Just over a month since Ion Torrent announced their next-generation Proton Sequencer, the technology may already be obsolete. This week, the first “nanopore” DNA sequencing Device was unveiled at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conference by UK-based Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Nanopore sequencing works by...
I was interviewed for this podcast by Intel Inc. Futurist Brian David Johnson for the Intel’s Tomorrow Project last year in Portland. Brian helps Intel understand medium-term trends in technology and society so they can align their business operations appropriately. It’s always a pleasure to work and share information with him.
I just came across this video (see below) by Tuur van Balen, a self-described Freelance Designer Researcher, who talks about hacking yogurt to produce the antidepressant Prozac. van Balen brilliantly combines fact (synthetic biology, lab techniques, biobricks) with fiction (to my knowledge, biosynthesis of Prozac, or flouxetine, a chemical hasn’t been demonstrated) to produce a...
Emerging technologies are crucial to continuing global prosperity. As technologies age, they are replaced by newer ones that offer greater performance, efficiency, or other important advantages. Recently, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies conducted a survey of their network to discover which technology trends would have the greatest short term impact...
